The Sleek WebOS Smartphone That Never Was

You're not looking at a new phone headed to stores any time soon — in fact, you're looking at the surprisingly sleek, all-touch webOS smartphone developed by HP which (sadly?) never was.

Unearthed by webOS Nation, this phone — codenamed WindsorNot — had similar innards to the Pre 3, but focussed on an all-touch, 4-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen, and ran webOS 3.x. That's the same OS as the ill-fated HP TouchPad so, in reality, perhaps it's best that it never saw light of day.

The phone was initially slated for release in late 2011, but a series of delays meant that in the end the phone wouldn't have been able to ship until 2012. That caused networks to lose interest in the project, largely because it didn't pack LTE — something that the US networks that would have funded it wanted to push that year.

It certainly looked the part — for 2011, at least — though it's also clear that the development schedule was as troubled as the rest of webOS. Regardless of whether the phone had ever made it to market it or not, it's probably fair to say that it wouldn't have rescued the OS from its fate. [WebOS Nation via Verge]